Scientists recently did an MRI of a tarantula. They managed to capture a video of the beating heart of the spider. Apparently it's like no other heartbeat seen before.

Not all Magnetic Resonance Imaging scanners are meant for use on humans. At the Glasgow Experimental MRI center there are small tubes constructed for performing MRIs on rodents used in medical testing. When the researchers at the center either run out of rodents for the day or get bored, things get interesting. Recently, they put a tarantula in the tube they use to contain the rodents, and captured an image of its heartbeat.

They also found a surprise. Researcher Gavin Merrifield thinks they might have captured a type of heart contraction that no one has seen before.

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"In the videos you can see the blood flowing through the heart and tantalisingly it looks as though there might be 'double beating' occurring, a distinct type of contraction which has never been considered before. This shows the extra value of using a non-invasive technique like MRI."

He will be presenting his findings at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Conference in Glasgow.